Koji Igarashi has been involved in 11 different "Castlevania" games, most of them 2D. His latest is "Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia" for the Nintendo DS.

Despite his experience, making an all-new 2D "Castlevania" game hasn't become any easier, developer and Indiana Jones fan Igarashi told MTV Multiplayer last week. It's actually become more difficult.

"Making a quality 2D game is really tough," he said. "The reason why it's tough is that even though I've been doing it for a long time, each time I do it I have to do it better. Fans expect something more. Just to keep them happy and to meet my own expectations, I have to try that much harder."

"Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia" introduces new stylus-based magic to the formula, in addition to exploration elements that allow players to traverse through several locales throughout the story but still retain that "castle" feel.

But "Order of Ecclesia" is still the 10th time Igarashi has made a 2D "Castlevania." Doesn't that tire him?

"I definitely have a passion for the franchise," he told me. "I mean, I'm definitely excited to do each iteration of the game -- and also my team. A lot of people came to Konami because they're huge fans of "Castlevania." That's another inspiration to keep on going, and it is a passion, definitely."

Hideo Kojima's passion for the past two decades has been Solid Snake. Kojima's solution to moving on was by ending Snake's story. Kojima Productions told me there's no way Snake is coming back in another "Metal Gear Solid."

Would Igarashi consider a similar move for the "Castlevania" series? "['Metal Gear'] is something that Kojima-san has worked on for a long time," he said. "That's his decision and I completely respect him for doing that. Maybe the franchise as a whole will continue. And that's maybe something that Kojima is thinking about, right? Snake might be at an end, but it could continue in other ways. I don't know exactly what he's thinking, but let's see what he does."

Killing off the Belmont family doesn't appear to be in the cards for Igarashi. For the time being, 2D "Castlevania" appears to be safe in Igarashi's hands.

***

Have a hot tip? Is there a topic that Multiplayer should be covering and isn't? Maybe you know why "Castlevania" still isn't stale to Igarashi. Drop me an e-mail.